Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students' Well-Being Across Urban, Suburban, and Rural Contexts

• In Event: Critical Contexts for Adolescents: Exploring Contextual Influences on Sexting Behaviors and on the Experiences of Gender-Expansive Adolescents

Abstract

Background
A growing body of literature suggests transgender and other gender-expansive (non-binary, gender-fluid, and other non-cisgender identities) students experience poorer school climates compared to their cisgender peers (Johns et. al, 2019). Transgender students report greater harassment, miss more days of school, and report lower levels of school safety (Day et al., 2018; Kosciw et al., 2020; McGuire et al., 2010). Poor school climates contribute to high rates of suicidality, drug abuse, and other mental health risks (Johns et al., 2019; De Pedro et al., 2017). Yet, transgender students do not face these risks everywhere, and exploring where transgender youth excel is critical. For instance, students in urban and suburban areas are less likely to experience victimization due to their gender expression than students in rural areas (Kosciw et al., 2009). This study extends previous research by exploring how variations in transgender and gender-expansive students’ school experiences contribute to their wellbeing across urban, suburban, and rural districts.

Theoretical Framework and Methods
This study uses the minority stress theory and a critical quantitative approach to evaluate the academic and health costs of cisgenderism (i.e., stigmatizing and pathologizing non-cisgender identities) across urban, suburban, and rural locales. 

The initial analysis emerged from a research-practitioner partnership (RPP) project with an urban district in the county. The research team examined relationships between gender identity, school climate, safety, and health in a subset of the 2018-2019 Dane County Youth Assessment (7,823 students in grades 6-12). We conducted descriptive and bivariate analyses to explore the RPP research questions about gender identity, school climate, and health. Future analysis will replicate this approach and use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to evaluate how cisgenderism, proxied by gender identity status, contributes to differences in safety, belonging, victimization, and health across urban, suburban, and rural districts. 

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view: 
In 2018, .5% more students identified as transgender and other gender-expansive in the urban district compared to rates across the county. In the largest, urban district, transgender students experienced greater emotional distress, peer victimization, and bullying while feeling less connected to school and reporting worse grades than their cisgender peers. Compared to the large urban district, non-binary students across the county encountered more bullying related to their gender identity, felt less like they belong at school, and were more anxious.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work: 
This study addresses the conference theme by describing educational inequalities and highlighting one feature, urbanicity, that may be contributing to dampening the effects of cisgenderism in schools. Initial results from this study speak to the pervasiveness of cisgenderism in schools across locales; yet, descriptively, our results suggest the magnitude of the health effects of cisgenderism may be less for nonbinary students in urban schools. The largest, urban district in this sample has a number of supportive structures in place, whereas, the suburban and rural districts may need additional resources and training to support gender-expansive students.   

Authors

• Erin Gill, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Xue Gong, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Mollie McQuillan, University of Wisconsin - Madison